A picture book written for younger readers than Dahl's other works, the story tells of a hungry crocodile who aims to eat human children via using various, not-quite-impenetrable disguises.

The four jungle animals are all feeling horrified and disgusted with the big crocodile, thereby insulting him on the spot, hoping that he will fail his task miserably and will himself be killed permanently, after which the reptile himself briefly and unsuccessfully attacks first Muggle-Wump the Monkey in his nut tree and Roly Poly Bird himself in his (newly-built) nest in the orange tree.

When nobody is looking, the now hungry crocodile cheekily sandwiches himself between a brown lion and a yellow dragon (with a red tongue sticking out of its mouth) hoping to eat a little girl named Jill who wants to ride on him.

Refusing to give up on his seemingly impossible task, the enormous crocodile finally goes to "the picnic place" located in a tropical woodland just outside the town which has trees and bushes all around it.

Nobody is there, so the enormous crocodile picks up a bunch of beautiful colored flowers with his front legs and then arranges it on top of one of the tables in the area.

Eventually, four siblings, ("two boys and two girls") who are all going out "on a picnic together", show up and want to sit at the table the enormous crocodile is hiding at due to the flowers.

[6] A musical adaptation of The Enormous Crocodile was staged at Leeds Playhouse from December 2023 to January 2024, as well as in Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, London between mid-May and early June 2024.